The Big Four's Farewell
by Starryknight86
Summary: Eventually, despite all the adventures, even best friends have to say goodbye. One-shot


"Jack, it's time to go."

Jack looked up at North, his blue eyes widening in disbelief. North nodded at him solemnly, gesturing out below at his friends. Friends he'd never expected to have. Merida was chasing Hiccup, shouting Scottish swears as he laughed and dodged behind Rapunzel who looked unsure as to if she should laugh or try and calm down her friends.

"We do not belong in this world. They may believe in you, but that does not mean we can constantly be in their lives. You'll be able to visit them again though, don't be too upset."

Jack felt tears pricking his eyes. He knew what North said was true; even after all the adventures they'd had, those three would continue to age and live without him.

"Go say your goodbyes, mate," Bunny told him, but Jack shook his head.

"If I tried, I wouldn't ever leave," he told them with a failed attempt at a grin.

Bunny was looking at him with something that seemed surprisingly like sympathy before turning towards the sleigh. Jack took one last look at his friends before sighing and following the kangaroo. Sandy made room next to him in the sleigh while North climbed up front, Tooth flitting in behind Bunny, pausing only to pat Jack on the shoulder reassuringly.

North whipped the reindeers and they began trotting off, staying on the ground while there was still a roof over their heads. Jack kept himself from looking back, not wanting this any harder than it already was.

 _"What was that for?"_

 _"I just save ye life, ya dummy," Merida shouted before grabbing his hand and pulling him through the castle._

 _"Toothless would like to challenge you to a race."_

 _"You want me to race against a dragon while the end of the world is coming?"_

 _Hiccup nodded. Jack grinned._

 _"What are we waiting for? Let's do this!"_

 _Rapunzel grabbed his staff from him and looked at it in wonder before sniffing it and flicking it with her finger. Rapunzel thrust the staff forward, her face falling when nothing happened. As Merida laughed, Rapunzel grinned at her._

 _"HAAAAAA!" she screamed, lifting the staff over her head and running at Merida who jumped away, laughing hysterically as they ran._

 _"Hey! Be careful with that!" Jack shouted, taking off after them._

 _Rapunzel's hair was over the four of them, Hiccup and Merida lightly snoring while Rapunzel was curled up with Pascal on her head. Jack later with his hands behind his head, staring up at the Moon._

" _I guess you knew what you were doing," he said._

" _I know ye belong ta mystical world, but talking to yerself is still not normal," came a disgruntled Scottish accent._

" _I wasn't talking to myself, I was talking to the Man in the Moon," Jack said, sitting up._

" _The Moon."_

" _Yes."_

" _Ye were talking ter the Man in the Moon?"_

" _Who's Jack talking to?" Hiccup asked, yawning._

" _A man who lives in the moon, or himself since he's a looney."_

" _I'm not a looney!"_

" _Jack, stop talking to yourself. Keep your conversations in your head or else everyone will know you're a looney," Hiccup said groggily._

" _I'm not looney!"_

" _Why's Jack a looney?" Rapunzel mumbled sleepily._

" _He's talking ter himself and blaming it on the Moon."_

" _Oh," was Rapunzel's response to Merida._

" _You guys are impossible."_

" _At least we talk normally," Merida shot back._

" _Now that we've established Jack shouldn't act insane while there are people around, can I go back to sleep?"_

 _Jack hid a grin as Hiccup started snoring again. Merida snuggled back under Rapunzel's hair, her snores starting up again soon as well._

" _You really did know what you were doing," Jack whispered as he laid down himself, falling asleep beside his friends._

 _"Look ye, ya didn't drag us all out of our lives just so that ye could suddenly say, ah we don' need yer help anymore."_

 _Merida punched Jack on the arm as Rapunzel and Hiccup nodded._

 _"We're in this together," Rapunzel insisted, raising her frying pan._

 _"Yeah, so stop trying to get rid of us. We're your friends now," Hiccup said, grabbing Jack's shoulder._

 _"We're more than that," Merida corrected. "We're family. And family sticks together."_

 _"You don't have to do this alone, Jack," Rapunzel said, softly._

 _"So, what are we waiting for?" Hiccup thrust his hand forward, Rapunzel and Merida instantly putting theirs on top of his. "Let's go save the world!"_

 _The three friends all looked at Jack expectantly. With the biggest grin he'd ever had, he added his hand to the pile._

 _"Go team Guardians!" Merida shouted throwing their hands into the air as the four of them cheered._

Merida finally had gotten Hiccup into a headlock and was laughing at his struggles and grinning at Rapunzel when something over her best friend's shoulder caught her eye. She was so shocked, she dropped Hiccup.

"Look!" she shouted, prompting them to look to where she was pointing. "Jack's leaving!"

"What?" Hiccup exclaimed.

"But he hasn't said goodbye!" Rapunzel cried.

"Well I refuse ta let 'im get away with that," Merida growled.

Hiccup whistled for Toothless, the dragon bounding inside a few seconds later. "All aboard," Hiccup said as he mounted, locking himself in.

Rapunzel jumped on behind him, Merida following and holding Rapunzel's braid between them. The second they were settled, the Night Fury took to the air. Toothless weaved them outside so that they could see the sleigh flying off.

"Jack!" Merida shouted as they got closer.

Hiccup and Rapunzel joined her in her call, and soon, the white-haired boy turned around, looking at them in shock.

"Get closer, Hiccup," Merida said, reaching over Rapunzel to pound the boy on the shoulder.

"Do you always have to hit people to get them to do what you want?" he grumbled as Toothless swooped forward until they were floating next to the sleigh.

Jack was watching them, stunned as he gripped the sleigh's railing. The other Guardians were watching them in surprise as well, North slowing the sleigh so that Toothless could hover next to them.

"You really thought you could leave without saying goodbye?" Hiccup called, grinning.

Jack didn't respond, he simply stared at them. Well Merida would have none of that. She huffed, using Rapunzel's shoulders to help her stand.

"What are you doing?" Rapunzel asked.

Merida didn't answer as she looked across the gap between Toothless and the Sleigh and decided she could cross it.

With a terrific leap, Merida leapt into the sleigh, crashing into Jack and toppling him over so that she was on top of him. Pulling herself up and throwing her hair out of her eyes, Merida sat on his stomach.

"What the? Merida! You could've killed yourself! What on earth were you thinking?" Jack shouted, struggling to free himself.

Merida smacked his forehead lightly with the back of her hand.

"Ye daft boy! What wer ye thinkin', trying to escape witho' saying goodbye ter us?"

Jack looked away, ashamed. Merida finally got off him and grabbed his arm, pulling him up with her as Toothless alighted on the back of the sleigh, Rapunzel and Hiccup sliding off him.

"Sorry you guys," Jack said, rubbing the back of his head. "I just didn't think I could take saying goodbye to you. You're the best friends I've ever had."

Merida punched him in the arm. "We're not yer friends, we're yer family."

"Yeah, Jack. You don't get to leave family without saying goodbye," Hiccup chastised.

"And it's not like it's forever," Rapunzel added, placing on hand on his shoulder. "We'll always be waiting for you to come and see us."

Jack looked down. "I… I don't know when that will be."

"Don't you know? That doesn't matter," Merida told him. "It doesn't matter how old we get or where we've gone. What matters is that ye come and that we're waitin' fer ye. Because we will be."

Rapunzel nodded enthusiastically. "After all the adventures we've had, I'll always be waiting. I never thought I'd get to have friends like you three," she told them as she took Jack and Hiccup's hands. Hiccup immediately grabbed Merida's who grabbed Jack's, completing their circle.

"You've made us better, Jack," Hiccup said.

"You say that, but it's really you three that made me better." Jack squeezed Merida and Rapunzel's hands. "I never knew what I was missing until you became part of my life. My family's grown when I never thought it could."

Merida tsked. "And ah can't believe ya didn't wan ta say goodbye."

Jack laughed. "I'll never say goodbye to you guys."

Merida dropped her hand and looked ready to smack him again. Jack jumped back, shoving his hands into his pockets as he grinned at her frustration.

"I'll never say goodbye, because with you three, I never have to. Merida's right. It doesn't matter where you are, I'll find you. I'm your guardian now, and I'll always be there."

"We're guardians for each other," Rapunzel said, practically glowing with happiness.

"It doesn't matter how far apart we are," Hiccup added. "We're a part of one another, and it's something we can't ever lose."

The four of them smiled at one another, before Rapunzel called out customarily,

"Group hug!"

She launched herself at Jack, followed instantly by Hiccup. Merida as always grumbled a solid minute before joining the hug herself, the four gripping one another tightly.

"I love you guys," Jack whispered.

When they finally let go, all were crying. Jack helped them board Toothless, giving each of his friends a separate hug. Merida surprisingly hung on for a longer time than Rapunzel and Hiccup.

"You believed in us when we couldn't do it fer ourselves," she whispered quickly. "And now we'll always believe in ye. We won't forget ye, Jack Frost. So, don't ye dare forget about us."

"Never," Jack whispered before pulling away, smiling at her.

The next moment, the most surprising thing happened, as Merida gave the swiftest kiss to his cheek he'd ever seen. Rapunzel gasped with delight and clapped her hands, prompting Hiccup to ask what had happened since he couldn't turn around well enough strapped into his saddle. Jack pulled back dazed as Merida prompted Hiccup to go by reaching around Rapunzel and poking him in the head, shouting at him to pick up the pace.

Toothless took flight, and Jack watched his friends disappear into the sky. His smile grew and he waved goodbye to them, their hands waving back.

"You've made yourself a good family there, Jack," North said once they couldn't see the Night Fury anymore.

"I've only had my family get bigger," Jack replied. "This one started out good already."

Bunny rolled his eyes but couldn't hide his smile. Tooth came and hugged him, Santa nodded proudly and Sandy made pictures with sand that Jack had no idea what they could mean. A few seconds later, they were flying through a portal, sending them to the North Pole.

Hours later, after they'd celebrated and most of the Guardians had returned home, Jack found himself on the roof, gazing at the Moon.

"You really did know what you were doing," he said.

Snow fell around him and he held his hands out, catching flakes on his palms.

"Thank you. Thank you for Merida, for Hiccup, for Rapunzel."

Jack gazed across the world, remembering their faces. A cold wind blew and he passed it along, sending it to his family. Jack grinned, and the Moon shone brighter, watching over them all, wherever they were.


End file.
